Project: Weiss
by Leivve
Summary: The target is inside Architect Company Headquarters. Your mission is to get in, extract her and return her to us. Failure will NOT be tolerated.
1. PROJECT: Weiss

"Did you ever think it would end like this?"

"Honestly? Yes I did. I liked to pretend I would have a happy ever after just like some of the heros from my stories growing up. Maybe I thought I would after I graduated, or when we stopped Cinder, but as I got older I came to realize why most heros from my books sacrifice themselves to save everyone else."

Weiss let out a sigh. The fire had yet to reach any of the explosives on the floor below them, but it was only a matter of time till they did. She turned on her butt so she was facing Ruby who had her back up to the heiress's till that point. Ruby turned to look at Weiss curious as to her distress, but couldn't get a word in before Weiss grabbed her jaw.

"That's the wrong answer Ruby, coming from you at least." She took a moment to adjust her voice before giving a very poor attempt at imitating her partner, "Of course not Weiss! We're Team RWBY, we'll find a way out! When has a few couple tones of rock at steel stopped us!"

Ruby couldn't help, but smile as Weiss moved her jaw as she spoke. Maybe there were some fumes in the air that were getting to her head, or maybe Weiss had gone a little mad from fear.

"Aren't you suppose to be the serious one that always looks for a way." She commented, pulled the heiress's hand from her face.

"You're the leader. You're the one who is suppose to get us out of trouble, or preferably keep us from getting into it."

"Oh Weiss, you should know by now I like jumping into trouble." Ruby commented leaning back to get some sense of comfort before their inevitable end came.

Weiss sat still, her demeanor quickly going from playful and humorous to more somber. Ruby watched her, apparently deep in thought.

"Ruby?"

"Weiss?"

"I know you're family isn't particularly religious. Mine isn't either… But what are your thoughts on the afterlife?" Continuing to look forward as she spoke, still partially in thought.

"What do you mean?" The red leader responded, her leader instincts kicking in from seeing her partner in distress.

"Like… What do you think happens after we die. Do you think we just return to the void? Or do you think something else happens."

"I can't say I know." That wasn't the answer Weiss wanted to hear, "And really I don't care too much. I've always lived in the moment, for better or worst that might be. Besides, does it matter if we know? Maybe we just enter a deep sleep, maybe there is some kind of paradise waiting for the heros of the world to arrive. Maybe we're reborn as someone else in this world or another. Does it matter?"

"I just… You, Yang, Blake. You're all my friends and I'm not sure how I could manage if I knew you guys weren't there at my side."

Ruby shifted herself so she was right in front of Weiss. The heiress looked up, greatly saddened by her train of thought. Ruby just flashed her a smile, one so innocent and naive of their surroundings that Weiss would have thought she had hit her head.

"We'll always be friends, and if there is another life after this one, you better believe that we'll find each other again!"

"Promise?" Weiss asked, causing Ruby to raise her hand, only the pinky extended toward her.

"Promise."

:::::

"Rose. Why do you cry?"

"Master?"

"Why do you weep for me? I have told you for many years this day would come, and surely you yourself should have known it was coming."

"I know master, but that still doesn't make it any less sad." The red haired girl continued to bawl her eyes out beside her master's death bed.

"Don't feel sad for me, young rose. Death isn't the end, just a new beginning." The old master commented, before taking on last breath. She let her eyes close so she could relax waiting for the end. Rose ran a hand through her master's white ponytail.

Despite their position as master and student, they were closer to friends than anything else. She had climbed to the top of a mountain to find her, then climbed up another one because she realized she took the wrong path. Her master though never seemed to notice her failures. She was complete garbage at almost everything she did, but never once did her master berate her over it. All she ever cared about was her desire to help people.

"Enjoy your new adventure, Master." Rose commented one final time after the white haired woman before her took her final breath.

:::::

"Any plans?" Long yelled over the clashing of steel.

"We just need to hold out till your sister arrives with the cavalry!" She yelled back, raising her sword to intercept an incoming attack.

The white knight kept her grip loose, letting it give when the two blades met. Her foe's slid down the length of her rapier before sticking in the ground. With expert precision she rolled the thinner blade in her hand, before delivering a perfect strike to the levy's unarmored throat.

As the man felt to the ground holding his neck in a desperate attempt to save himself, she took a glance around the battlefield. Her besieged forces were sallying forth from the castle to attack the enemy once the relief force had arrived, but the enemy had set up spear wall formations on both sides and were holding off both forces admirably. Her knight retinue was more than a match for these minimally trained levies that made up the bulk of both armies, and the crack they'd made in their formation was starting to grow, putting the entire formation at risk.

She had sent Red to gather the knights of the relief army and lead them for a follow up charge, but she had yet to show up. Another levy rushed her, making her step forward, raising her arm to intercept his forearm, before delivering a quick thrust through his leather armor. Another charged from the flank, and she responded with a parry, knocking the blade to the side; before grabbing his wrist and flipping her foe over her shoulder. He landed flat on his back, but before he could even try to get up, a large war hammer came down crushing his chest.

Long flashed a smile at her lord while tucking a blonde lock behind her ear. They continued fighting their way deep into the ranks of the enemy. Despite being vastly superior to every foe she met she made sure not to let her confidence become arrogance. They might not have had the same skills as her; but their blades were just as deadly should they meet flesh.

A horn sounded behind her, and she turned to see a red banner waving in the wind behind her. As she suspected The Red Knight was riding full gallop with a host of knights and lancers at her back, her signature red cloak tailing in the wind as the horsemen took up a wedge formation behind her.

"Look out!" Long called out, pulling her attention away from Red.

Long was running at her full sprint a look of desperation on her face. Looking around she noticed that the enemy troops were either running to the side or diving to the ground. The behavior confused her, till she realized the line of twenty men holding a formation, each armed with an arquebus. Her mind screamed for her to dive out of the way, or to move; but for some reason she didn't respond to it, only looking on as they leveled their weapons at her and her retinue.

"FIRE!"

:::::

"This way Madame President!" Bella called as she pulled a gun from under her suit. Long and Rose took up similar positions around the president, guns pulled and ready to shoot or intercept anything the shooter could throw at them.

The rest of the crowd was screaming as they scattered to find some form of shelter, despite the fact the sniper clearly only wanted to take out the president. The three escorted their white haired charge as they made their way to a back room

"Are you ok Madame President?" Bella asked as they entered a prep room behind the stage. The president took a seat on one of the nearby seats. she was breathing heavily as she struggled to catch her breath.

Long didn't wait for a response, instead opting to rip open her suit, revealing the bullet proof vest underneath. There was no blood, but both of them gasped in horror as they saw a small metal dart of some kind right below her collarbone.

"Call an ambulance! Tell them the President of the Global Federation has been shot!" She called to the others, not noticing her sister was already on it.

"I… I can't-" She wheezed struggling for breath.

"Don't talk, not till the doctor gives you a look over."

"I can't breath." She struggled out, despite her bodyguard's orders.

"Oh no. Oh no! What do I do?! What do I do!?" She said in a panic just as Bella fell to her knees next to her.

Both desperately trying things in hope of keeping whatever poison was on the dart from spreading.

"They're here!" The redhead of the trio called, leading the doctor over to her.

"Madame President. Just stay calm, help is here." He told her as he started examining her.

Her vision started to go black. As he took off her vest and examining her skin underneath.

"Stay awake, Miss President. Stay awake-" but despite her efforts, she couldn't.

:::::

She ran through the village as fast as she could. Buildings were burning all around her, people screaming or yelling, for mercy or loved ones. She dashed down the streets at a speed only a master like her could achieve. Bodies laid on the ground, arrows, or sword wounds being the cause of their silence.

The sound of wood breaking drew her gaze to a pair of black armored samurai as they forced their way in. She drew her blade as she charged them. The further noticed her first and pointed her out. By the time the second caught sight of her, her rapier was already already punched through his armor, piercing his heart. She removed the blade from her foe as he crumbled to the earth, the last one pulling his katana from its scabbard.

"You'll pay for that you island whore!" He roared slashing at the white haired duelist before him.

She leaned back, avoiding the deadly cut, before delivering a counter thrust while he was exposed. The black armored figure physically jumped to the side to avoid the attack, but slammed into the wall he was next to with an audible thud. With perfect grace the rapier tip lashed to the side, leaving a cut across his neck. His hand slapped over his neck as he fell to the ground, blood already leaking into his throat and spilling from his lips.

"There you are." A low voice growled, followed by the stomps of metal on stone.

Another man armed in black stepped forth to oppose her. A nagamaki in one hand and a tanto in the other. His metal faced boots sounded with each step as he approached her. His shadow looming over her as the red sunset started to approach the horizon.

"So many villages. I was starting to wonder if I was even in the right province." He taunted, while adopting a fighting stance. His nagamaki being appropriately sized for the giant of a man to hold in one arm.

"I should have killed you all those years ago." She spoke out, her words easily getting under his skin.

"Do not speak like you could have! We both know you were in no position to strike me down!" His low voice swelling with anger as he spoke.

"So you admit that you lost then do you Koroku?" A smile behind her face mask, glad she got the satisfaction of getting him to say it.

"I never claimed I didn't. I claimed that next time I would kill you!" Finally snapping.

He charged forward his blades slashing through the air, causing the wind to sing with each strike. He surged forward at the white haired duelist, as she took a defensive stance. He knew her game. After his defeat so many summers ago, he seeked out those taught in the islander's style to spare with. He was ignorant before, but this time he didn't have that weakness.

She planned to end this just like she did last time. No doubt he would see through the same move as last time, but she could use that to her advantage. Get the brute comfortable fighting her before she shifted into her 'Island Style' and dance circles around him just like the first time.

He was almost in position, both readied their blades to strike.

Then everything flickered. Koroku was paused in mid air, but why? Everything flickered again and her vision warped. Blinking cleared her sight, but it wasn't the sight she had a moment before. Koroku was gone, replaced with a cherry blossom tree. petals fell through the wind softly passing by here. She spun on her heels to see a village burning in the distance.

Wait, it was her village. What happened, how did she end up so far away? She couldn't think now, she just needed to get back. She stormed through the green field recognizing it was the same path she had walked upon earlier that morning. While focusing on the village, a stone caught her foot and she fell to the ground. She picked herself up, but when she saw her arm she jumped.

It wasn't bleeding. Actually I didn't seem like it could bleed, as it was completely metal. from her forearm to her fingers. She sat up and brought up her other arm for inspection too. Sure enough it was also metal, she looked at them contemplating what it could mean.

The ground behind her hands flickered again. When it stopped she was in a seat of some kind and her arms were restrained to the arms. She pulled on them, testing their strength. They held firm, causing her to pull harder in response. Her metal arms slammed on the restrains with a force that would hurt them if they were still organic. Her heart rate started to raise as panic and confusion took hold. She looked around hoping someone would be able to see her and provide help.

Her village remained in the distance, burning like it had been before. The scene flickered again, and there was a man, in a white coat of some kind, looking at… something; some kind of device. The field and village was gone, replaced with a metal room. He looked over to her, and fear crept into her mind as she saw the right side of his head was metal, his eye glowed is a sinister red glow. He started to walk toward before everything flickered again

Koroku appeared before her. Their eyes met, so close she could make out the fine detail of his irises. A cold shiver came across her, as the feeling of cold steel pierced her skin and passed through her body. The cut was so fine it didn't even hurt till it reached or inner organs.

Before she could process what just happened, the screen flickered back to the man in the white coat. He was in her face just as close as Koroku's. causing her to jump in her seat.

"Ms. Schnee please remain calm, the intruder will be dumped soon."

He said in a calm voice, but not a single word processed in her mind. He produced a needle of some kind with a blue, soft glowing substance in a glass tube connected to it. Before she could protest against it, the needle was plunged into her arm. The sudden move causing her to panic even more, as she struggled against the restraints with all her might. They started to whine against the strain as she pulled. The man kept the needle inside her, the blue liquid emptying out.

Blue lightning erupted around her arm, and soon the other arm mirrored it. Strength surged through her body, and her core started to feel a strange warmth flow into her, before turning into a blazing heat in her chest. With one final pull she struggled against the restraints, the tension was almost too much for the the metal cuffed around her wrist; but only almost. As she pulled on them the man before her took a step back as the electricity grew more intense. The fire in her center flared to her arms, and with violent force finally snapped the metal circuits freeing her.

The man took a step back covering his face as metal and sparks flew through the air in front of him. A second later the way cleared and he stepped back up raising his arms to grab her shoulders.

"Ms. Schnee, Please-"

He was interrupted as the metal hands slammed into his chest. The electricity that sparked around her forearms flooded into her wrist, causing her palms to glow white. She could feel all the energy gathering up, despite being metal, she could feel a burning sensation coming from them, before suddenly it was all gone.

The power erupted from her hands violently throwing her back as well as consuming the metal room in blinding white light. The metal chair she was in broke free from the ground, and fell backwards from the force of the blast. Her head slammed into her seat with a metal bang, her brain felt like a bomb had gone off within it, and she couldn't work up the energy to remain conscious.

* * *

 **Been a while hasn't it? Don't worry the next chapter will be out real quickly so don't worry.**


	2. Operation Rescue

"Eagle One to Eagle Two, come in Eagle Two."

"Ruby, she can't hear you."

"Come in Eagle Two, What's your statue?"

"Ruby, she's in the matrix, she can't hear you."

"Oh… So does that mean we're ready for the next step?" She asked, looking over to her sister.

"Just show some patience Ru. Blake will signal us when we're clear." Yang commented, slouching in her seat in the back of the van.

Ruby groaned in annoyance. Waiting wasn't one of her strongest dispositions, and both of her teammates were very well aware of it. She shifted in her seat every other minute, in an attempt to get some kind of comfort. Her left goggle glowed red in the darkness of the van, while the right would flicker every few seconds as the multi-lense frame would rotate over it. She looked around outside the van with her IR lense.

The parking garage was empty for the most part, just a few rats and pigeons that were taking shelter from the heavy rain outside; and the roads matched. No one was on the streets, save one man sitting at a bus stop with an umbrella over his head. A spot flared up from the building next to him, and Ruby recognized it as the small noodle shop she saw when they were pulling in. A rumble from her stomach alerted her that it had been a couple hours since dinner, but she ignored it. They were on a mission after all, so her stomach would have to wait. She put it as a priority though for after they were done, not noticing her tongue licking around the inside of her mouth, both the top lip, and the metal bottom jaw.

Yang sighed, shaking her head at how immature her sister appeared, easily seeing her bend to the wills of her stomach, even if her sister herself didn't realize.

Ruby suddenly froze and pointed to the driver seat, causing Yang to turn too. A flashlight was shining into the vehicle. There was a knock on the glass, and Yang responded with rapping her metal knuckles against her side of the van's wall signalling to the person there was someone inside.

"Your vehicle isn't registered under Architect Company registry. Please exit the vehicle and prepare for a SIN inspection, and potential impounding of your van."

Yang shook her head in mild annoyance as both her and Ruby stood and walked over to the double door. Both put a hand on either handle, and waited for the security guard to round to the back of the van to meet them. Tracking him with infrared vision, Yang nodded for Ruby to have the honor when he was in place. He stood a few steps too far back for a moment, waiting for them. When they failed to show themselves, he pulled a small pistol from his waist and started to approach cautiously.

Despite being a bottom of the chain security guard, both Ruby and Yang knew not to underestimate his fire power. Architect had close ties with Argonaut Enterprises, one of the leading manufacturers of military grade weapons, and no doubt that guard's pistol could take out an engine block with ease.

He wouldn't get the chance to use it though. Once he took his second step, reaching out for the handle, the two steel doors burst open, a metal hand grabbed his neck and the next thing he knew, he was thrown into the vehicle, hitting his head before coming to a stop.

Both sisters slammed the door closed before rushing the man. Ruby's iron grip returning to his throat, squeezing down on the soft tissue. The guard's free hand grabbed her forearm trying to pry it away, but his soft flesh did little to even scratch the steel construct squeezing the life out of him. He brought his other hand up, still holding the pistol, to level the barrel at her head. Another hand caught his before it could become a danger. The grip squeezed on his hand, and he couldn't even scream in pain as both his hand, and the gun he was holding were crushed in what felt like a compactor. He thrashed and tried to free himself, but only the glowing red goggles and a yellow 'V' shaped visor accompanied him as everything went black.

Ruby released him the moment her sensors detected that he was dead, before nodding to her sister. Yang raised her arm to eye level, before flipping up a panel in the forearm. The screen illuminated the metal mask on her face. A moment later a low resolution image of Blake appeared on the screen.

"What is it Yang? I got most of the alarms, just hold tight."

"Guard caught on to us. You need to hurry before someone notices-"

The alarm sounded on cue, causing Ruby to draw her weapon, no doubt excited at the prospect of finally getting some action. Yang let out a sigh, she was hoping they could do this quietly for once in their careers. She stood cupping her hand in her palm. There was a small crunching sound as she imitated popping her knuckles. Ruby opened the door, her heavy sniper mounted on her shoulder as she stepped out with a small skip in her step. Yang followed after before performing a basic weapon check.

Her hands and forearms warmed up as the small ports along them started to let energy flow through. Solid yellow hard light panels formed above her arm and the individual finger joints. Her fist clashed together, causing sparks to erupt as the hardlight met, but remained solid. After checking the durability she grinned to herself glad everything was in working order.

Ruby's rifle opened up and the scythe blade extended to its full length before becoming enveloped in a solid red hardlight. She slashed it back and forth, the blade easily passing through the concrete floor each time. When she was satisfied with it, she let the blade collapse before returning the weapon to her shoulder.

"Blake, give us some details before we start heading up." Yang asked as they walked through the parking garage toward the closest door into the building.

"Our target is on the thirty-second floor. Floors thirty to thirty-two are all connected to Aurora's VR Matrix. The tech on those floors is ancient, I don't know who she is, but she's been in that system for a very long time." Blake explained over the communicator.

"You hear that Ruby? Check your fire-"

"I heard." She replied with some hostility, upset her sister wouldn't think her to be able to show some degree of responsibility.

"Blake, what are we looking at for security forces?" Ruby asked grabbing Yang's arm so she could speak for herself.

"Typical low grade security guards. 'Flying Star, Special Tactics' forces have been called and will be enroute shortly, but we should be out of here before they arrive if we hurry. I recommend using the stairs. Elevators are working but if they realize you're using it, we will be delayed too long."

"Roger that. Meet you on the thirty-second floor"

"Will do."

Ruby turned on her heel and took off toward the nearest door to inside the building, the red scarf around her neck flowing behind in the tail breeze. Yang followed closely, before taking the lead when her sister found the door they were using to already be electronically locked.

Ruby stepped to the side, giving Yang the clear to force it open. Her fist slammed into the door, right above the handle. When she pulled away, the steel was caved in around where her fist was. Even without her hard light gauntlets the steel was of a poor quality, clearly not meant for actual security or defense.

Another fist crashed into the door, this time slightly below the handle. The lock held firm still, but both Ruby and Yang expected it would. Using the dents as hand holds, Yang started to pull the door to the side. It held for a bit, but after a grunt of effort and a second pull, the metal whined as it yielded to her strength. With one last pull the lock slid out of the hole, letting it swing open with even the smallest force.

The shorter of the two entered first, leveling her rifle at her waist. A targeting screen formed on her visor, showing the bullet trajectory when fired. Yang followed up activating her gauntlets making ready for anything that might try to jump them.

Metal clanked on cement as the two sisters ascended up the building. A camera on every flight of steps tracked them as they walked by, but they didn't care. The security forces would know where they were if they took out the cameras anyways, plus they weren't any real threat for them. That wouldn't stop them from trying though.

The door a level up was thrown open as several pairs of feet stormed their way in. Both girls took combat stances, activating their weapons in preparation. Red hard light panels formed alongside Ruby's rifle as she powered it up to fight. Leveling it at the bend just behind them she let the "gun-eye" targeting system adjust her aim, using the system to line it up once the first guard rounded into sight. Yang prepped her gauntlets to launch a hard light slug as a follow up shot. Hard light dissipated very quickly if it didn't have a consistent supply of energy, making them close range projectiles at best, but even here at the edge of her range they could still knock someone flat on their butt.

The footsteps slammed on the concrete right above them. Ruby's IR showing they were armed with SMGs or machine pistols. Looked like they were already under code red if they were going lethal.

The vanguard rounded the corner and Ruby fired her shot before he even noticed her. Her rifle roared like a cannon, echoing up the whole stairwell. The heavy round impacted the man in his flank causing him to be lifted off his feet before slamming into the wall. Her left goggle with it's normal vision saw that she made a mistake. The IR didn't pick up that he had an orange, hexweave, hardlight riot shield on his arm. The shot would have killed a normal person with ease, but against the dense hard light, it simply detonated on impact doing no real harm.

"Contact!" the one behind him called leaning over the edge of the rail, his gun leveled at them. Yang's slug connected with his face knocking him back. A second shot sounded from Ruby, causing Yang to turn to see what she was shooting at.

The door next to them blasted open, a new hole where the handle was, with her sister rushing through a moment later. Yang moved to follow, till a hard impact struck the small of her back mid stride. Her arms moved reflexively to catch herself as she fell to the ground. She kicked off the concrete flat as another blast shattered the ground where she had been a moment before.

They entered into the main part of the building. Large glass panels made up the wall, showing a view to the city. The gold lights shining from the many skyscrapers illuminated the night, letting one easily make out the black clouds overhead as they continued to let rain fall, slamming on the transparent surface that separated them from the outside.

Yang ran down the hallway the door lead to at full speed. Ruby had spead ahead, and the curve of the hall as it bent around the edge of the building, kept her out of sight. Her body did a quick scan of her systems and confirmed she had been hit with a shotgun of some kind, but the metal carapace that enclosed her body hadn't been penetrated. Despite that though, she was glad she brought her brown combat vest, as she she would prefer not to rely on luck when it came to things like that.

Her sensors sent out a ping and after a moment the echo revealed the location of both Ruby further up the bend smashing the button for the elevator, and Blake higher up in the building probably already waiting for them.

Yang flipped open the panel in her arm, a pixelated blake show up up almost immediately.

"Blake, stairs are over crowded we're going to take the elevator up."

"You're only on the 8th floor. If you get in the elevator they will have plenty of time to stop you."

"That's why I'm calling." Yang stated with a neutral tone.

"What do you expect me to do? Just go in the matrix and fight off everything trying to take control of the elevator?" Blake asked demandingly.

"Actually I was going to say could you just destroy their system, but your plan sounds easier, so let's go with that." Yang smiled at Blake's irritated groan, but knew that she would comply.

Yang finally caught up with Ruby, who was still pressing the button for the elevator fast enough to break it, assuming it wasn't already broken. The button continued to be smashed till the soft ding of the door opening stopped her. Even before they were fully open Ruby dashed inside and took a look at the inside panel. She paused on what to do as she counted up the floors to twenty-five, before it skipped to thirty five.

She continued to stare before finally Yang went past her pushing the one reading twenty-five.

"Freeze!" Shouted a guard leveling a heavy pistol at them. He was still several feet away, his body slightly obscured by the curve in the hallway.

Yang responded with flashing him a peace sign, as the sound of the doors closing told her they were home free. Ruby though raised her rifle and fired a perfect shot into the man's exposed shoulder. The bullet easily passed through his light armor. As it pierced his flesh a small trigger in the round activated causing it to detonate mid flight. His arm was torn from his body as the whole side was reduced to gib. The corpse hit the ground a moment before the elevator doors clicked closed.

"That seemed a little unnecessary don't you think?" Yang asked her sister as they felt the elevator starting to ascend.

"Didn't want to risk it. Just because they're weak doesn't mean we should go easy on them."

"Ruby just because they promoted you to a squad leader doesn't mean you suddenly have to take everything about the mission so super serious." She commented, letting her metal arm come down on Ruby's steel shoulder plate to give her a small shake.

"I know, I'm just… I'm just nervous. I want to impress them, show them I can do this." She started letting out a deep breath.

"Just because they are watching doesn't mean you have to get so uptight about it."

Ruby was about to respond, but the elevator suddenly stopping threw her off. Both stumbled a moment to keep their balance before looking around. They were only on the twenty second floor, plus the doors weren't opening. Which meant they had manually stopped the elevator to stop their ascent.

Blake danced between the wire grids of the matrix as she slashed her way through all the security systems. A giant spire of light pierced into the eternal black void one could consider a sky behind her, several more off in the distance pierced the blackness with a variety of colors. Blake wasn't interested in those though. The one behind her controlled the elevator systems that Ruby and Yang were insisting on using despite her protest. She'd chew them out later though, the most recent wave of IC Killers managed to slip past her and deactivated the system.

Her avatar stepped up to the panels as she tried to force it back on. The avatar looked exactly like she had, before she got all the chrome additions, plus a pair of cat ears because why not; they were cute.

After a moment a burst of light came from the spire before raising up, causing it to glow bright. Knowing it was back on, no doubt the system would send another wave of IC forces to try deactivating it again.

On cue the security forces started to arrive. They were just metal boots, armor, and gloves all connected only by a thin red wire. Upon seeing her standing in the open they stopped and produced blades from their forearms.

"Intruder, identify yourself." All of them taking defensive stances.

Blake smiled and raised her weapon. The small pistol was a mirror to the one she had in real life, though instead of shooting small caliber bullets like the actual one, this one used data charges that could overload the systems that it hit. she quickly fired off a volley, easily felling the systems with minimal effort. Recognizing her as a threat they all charged forward taking basic maneuvers to make themselves harder to hit.

Against a less skilled shooter this might have helped, but for Blake, their efforts were pointless. She continued to fire her gun, not worried about ammo, only by the number of bodies coming toward her. Blake fired as fast as she could , dropping more and more of the IC Killers. As the first one neared the pistol pixilated into a sword, letting her block the attack with ease. A simple twist knocked its arm away enough for her to deal a critical strike to its center.

It burst into a number of polygons that floated away in random directions, clearing the way for the next one. A wide slash from the side was avoided by leaping in the air. As she passed, she flicked her blade through its helmet, causing it to burst like the first one. A downward slash as she landed stopped a third, then a follow up swing to the right took out a fourth.

One of the IC Killers started working on the the elevator system while three more took defensive positions around it. The rest seeing their objective secured turn to focus on Blake. Their steps made no sound as they charged her, arm blades ready to rend her avatar apart, and dump her from the system. Those not in immediate charging range exchanged their blades for ranged weapons. Their hands being replaced with gunbarrels.

Blake's own pistol reformed in her hand so she could fire on the charging enemies. The first one dropped like all the others before, as did the second. The third had its arm blown off mid swing as Blake rolled away. Stopping on her feet she took out a fourth before finishing the third. Digitized bullets whipped past her face, leaving an electric crackle in her ears as they passed. Her blade reformed letting her block several more shots.

The volley persisted, forcing Blake back while the rest of the IC systems maneuvered around to flank her. Finally a small window in the deadly shots appeared, and Blake immediately took it.

Throwing her hand out, she focused on augmenting the systems around her. She waved her hand in front of her vertically, before having to move as an IC blade slashed at her neck. Four points on the grid wiring that made up the ground and terrain lit up with a soft glow before moving upward. The lines stretched as a one by four wall rose up blocking sight between her and her ranged opponents.

With a much more secure position, Blake flipped away from the guard firing off more shots. This Intrusion Countermeasures program was top quality for sure, but was horrendously out of date, rendering that fact obsolete. Normally the programs used to counter hackers and other intruders could take more abuse than this, but these things burst in a single hit.

She continued to slice down several more of the IC Killers before finally getting around to gunning down those that had switched to ranged. Only the last four by the terminal were left. She stepped up to the wall and let the grid box she was on raise up so she was standing over it. Three were still standing in a position around the fourth like how she had left them. Though they were still armed with didn't seem to see her, causing her to wonder if they had bugged out, or if they were really so old they couldn't comprehend elevation within the Matrix?

Blake shrugged to herself before quickly dispatching the last four bots. With the enemy dispatched, she waved her arm causing the wall and pillar she was on to sink back to their normal state. There was a small buzz in her left ear, which immediately followed up with the ear itself blinking red like a car's turn signal.

Blake took a deep breath as she jacked herself out of the matrix. Though normally they had no way to connect with each other while she was in the digital world, her and Yang had set up a way for them to contact her if it was important. The space in front of her started to pull away, leaving black void behind it. After a moment she was eclipsed in darkness, a moment after that she realized her eyes were closed. Back in the real world, Blake quickly unhooked herself from the port she was using, letting the small cable slip into her wrist, as she she flipped the panel on her arm for the second time.

"Blake, the buttons skip from twenty five to thirty three. what are we supposed to do?"

"There is a second elevator in the center of the building you can take. I already locked off the system before you had your cover blown so it should be fine to go up. the thirtieth and thirty-first floors are all computer systems, the thirty-second appears to be a lab of some kind with the back room holding our target. We'll have to use stairs on the thirtieth floor."

"Roger that, meet you at the elevator then." Yang stated, closing the panel just as the elevator door dinged for their arrival.

Both girls readied their weapons as the doors slid open fully expecting resistance on the other side. There were about a dozen people, but no resistance. Both pairs of eyes went wide and jaws slightly dropped as they took in the sight.

Red splattered the walls and ran along the floor. Corpses of the recently dispatched littered the small hallway. Security guards were minced, most of them still having their weapons holstered at their sides. Among them were half a dozen individuals in white lab coats and a variety of chrome enhancements from hands to eyes. A couple were in the same state as the guards, cut into a dozen different pieces, most though seemed to only have their necks sliced open, or their stomach cut. As the two tip toed through the mess of blood and organs, Ruby noted most of them had looks of shock or fear.

There were a pair of elevators that lead up just up ahead. Ruby was about to dash to them when Yang held her hand out to stop her. She was about to ask what was up, but noticed it herself. A pair of bloody footsteps walked away from the carnage before ending in the blood covered boots of the killer. Only there was no one there.

Ruby switched to her IR vision and easily made out the figure. Going by their build it was a man, probably mid thirties if she had to take a guess. The fact her naked eye couldn't see him meant he had some kind of advanced cloaking device on.

The elevator doors in front of him opened up and he stepped inside, hitting the button as he passed. Ruby and Yang kept their weapons leveled at him the whole time, waiting to see if he was hostile or not. When he did turn to face them he quickly pulled a pair of what appeared pistols of some kind from his waist, and quickly adopting a combat stance.

The two sides continued in their stand, neither willing to take the first shot. Neither knew what the other was capable of, and didn't want to risk engaging. The doors to the elevator slid closed cutting sight between the two. It wasn't till the elevator started going up that Ruby and Yang lowered their guard.

"I'm guessing from the corpses, he isn't part of the security team." Yang commented as she started jogging over to the elevator.

"Do you think he's after the same target?" Ruby asked, following her to the slid doors.

"Well if he is," pausing as she put effort into prying them open, revealing the inner workings of the shaft, "We can't let him get to her, now can we."

Along the back of the shaft was a thick metal wire cable. The same cable that was currently pulling up the box after looping around a pulley at the top. Ruby opened the bolt in her rifle, and manually removed the round from her weapon. The bullet was placed in the small pouch on the back of her waist, and replaced it with one of her many custom made "Reaper Rounds" she had decorating her belt that held the pouch in place.

The sound of the shot being fired was less of a bang, and more like a screech. The effect it had though was just as she desired. The cable easily split in two, as well as the cement wall behind it looking like a bomb just went off. The sudden loss of tension caused the heavy steel to lash out, but they were too far to risk taking off either sister's head.

The girls stood casually, fiddling with their weapons or adjusting a few locks of hair as they waited. A moment of patience was rewarded with the elevator rapidly speeding pass them. As they reentered the elevator shaft a loud crash echoed up past them. Looking down it looked like the elevator had smashed into the bottom of the shaft another couple floors down and went through it another level or two. If it wasn't for the fact the building was in lockdown Ruby would have been surprised if no one had gotten hurt.

An emergency ladder was carved into the side of the concrete, and Yang started her assent while Ruby pulled out the walkie-talkie she had tried contacting Blake with before the alarms went off.

"Blake, have you seen any strange activity?"

"What do you mean?" She returned after a moment's pause.

"There was a guy taking the elevator up after killing a number of scientists and security guards. Did you detect him in the matrix?"

"Not directly, but the whole system is really weird. I'm not sure if it's because it's really old and out of date, or if the company matrix itself has been attacked, but something like that would take either a long time, or some cutting edge tech. Why? Did you recognize him?"

"He had a state of the art cloaking system, and with what you just said, I don't think he's just a simple runner like us. I think he might be a Phantom Blade."

"If he is, we better get moving. I'm not confident in our ability to take on a Phantom Blade without proper preparation and planning."

Ruby agreed before returning the small device to her pouch. Rushing up the ladder she instructed Yang to hurry in their ascent up the long elevator shaft.

* * *

 **So thanks for reading so far. Make sure you leave a review and follow so you'll know when the next chapter is up. Cheers.**


	3. Conflicting Interest

"Alright, up you go." Yang narrated as she pulled Ruby up to the elevator door on the desired floor. Blake was already standing next to them as she waited for her leader to finish brushing off the metal carapace over her torso, followed by her adjusting the red scarf around her neck.

After straightening everything out she took a glance around the room. The stairs they wanted were clearly marked, with long hallways of different servers and data storage filling the room. To their left were lockers and a couple hooks with coats and hats hanging from them.

Ruby took the lead with Yang and Blake following on her heels as they passed through the walls of servers. The many flashing lights caught Ruby's eyes, making her head turn from one side, then back to the other as they went about performing their functions.

"Architect is in charge of maintaining the original matrix for archival and historical purposes." Blake spoke out from behind Yang.

"What?" Was the expected reply Blake got from her leader.

"The matrix we use for our everyday lives is the third iteration created. This one was originally developed back home, when it was still called the 'United States of America.' Eventually, as technology advanced and changed, the platform couldn't adapt to modern systems so the great dragon, Chihli Bo, prime minister of the Ji Federation in northern Old China, ordered the development of a new system built to be adaptable to the future." It wasn't till after she finished that all of them realized they had stopped to listen.

"Hey Blake," Yang spoke out breaking the silence, "How about we save the history lessons till after we're done."

"Right, sorry." She agreed, accompanied by a nod.

They continued along into the simple staircase to take them up the next to floor. Ruby was honestly a little disappointed. She was expecting some sort of secret passageway filled with 'killer death robots' and top of the line weaponry to protect a vault that could withstand high explosive fire. Instead she got something you could find in a generic office building.

The thirty first floor was a locked door, with a small window at eye level, with only a massive room of old computer systems. Wires ran across the floor in every direction with blocks of systems covered in lights like the servers below.

As Ruby turned the corner to continue up to the next floor a rush of air accompanied by the thunder of a cannon slammed into her mid-stride. Even with her metal limbs and armor it was still strong enough to knock her off balance. She fell flat on her back with a grunt as the sudden impact forced the air out of her lungs. The force disappeared as quickly as it came, letting Ruby sit up to see Yang and Blake leaning on the walls with death grips on the hand railings.

Once everyone righted themselves, they took a combat stance as they started to move up the steps at a faster pace. Ruby leveled her rifle at the door at the top of the steps, signalling Yang to rush it. A blonde bolt rushed by, as Yang lept up the last flight of stairs only to bring her fist slamming into the door's center. The surface caved under the force before being torn from it's hinges into the room it had blocked a moment before.

Yang raised her fist, ready to fight any assailant that came at her. Instead she was met with the sight of nine different individuals all on their knees in a kowtow position with their hands behind their heads. Each was dressed in casual clothing, with only the white labcoats they wore revealing they were even working.

The lab was decently sized, the size of a basketball court with tables running along the walls and neatly organized branches to give all the workers their own little work space. In the back of the room was what they came for though. The blueprints made it look like a room a third of the size of the lab's total space. What it turned out to be was a steel walled vault. At least, it appeared to be to Yang.

The doors looked like they had taken extensive damage, and smoke pouring out betrayed that an explosion had just happened within. Yang hoped that their target was still alright, rumors said that their employer ate runners that didn't meet his high standards. Though the silver lining was that now it would take far less force to break in. They knew that they would need some muscle to get in, but something like this would have kept them out if it was still in working order.

"Everyone, may I have your attention please." She called out for all to hear, as Ruby and Blake came up behind her, weapons still at the ready. The scientist all looked up, whether from understanding or just because the intruder was speaking to them, Yang didn't care.

"I will need you all to sit over on that side of the room," She narrated with large, obvious hand motions for any non english speakers, "and make sure you keep your hands where we can see them at all times."

Everyone present started moving to the spot Yang had gestured for them to move to without protest. Blake went about inspecting the rest of the room. Computers lined the back of the lab behind the vault, as well as a door that lead to more stairs. The vault itself though didn't have any openings other than the broken door in the front.

While Yang went about babysitting the workers, and Blake went to do her own thing, Ruby stepped up to the massive vault door. Her rifle extended out to it's scythe form, getting few 'aww's from the onlookers. The blade flashed red as she brought it down slicing through the metal door. Its own weight held it in place forcing Ruby to slash again, and again. Finally she broke through the first layer, only to find a second, only scratched up from her previous attacks. A grunt of mild annoyance escaped her as she went back in full force. Spinning the blade from one side to the other to keep her momentum up. The scientist were wide eyed as they watched the red runner's weapon turn into a cyclone of red steel and hard light.

The door whined as it was slowly weakened, and the whole structure started to lean forward. A loud snapping sound caught Ruby's attention just in time to see the whole face of the wall was falling toward her. With speed that would seem like teleportation to the naked eye, she vanished as the heavy door fell to the ground, dragging the frame and the rest of the wall with it.

There was a loud boom as steel collided with steel, and heavy parts clanged against each other. When everything was silent Ruby stepped forward to inspect her handy work. The door was on the ground, but the wall around it had become warped and bent as it was pulled with it, becoming a new barrier to some extent. Rubble had filled up the hole that remained, but there was still an opening just big enough for Ruby to fit her head through. Blake ran to the front at the sound of danger, only to relax when she saw everything was still ok.

Ruby stepped up to the small gap in the barrier and pushed her head through. The optics on her right eye immediately flipped through to her low light lense so she could get a better look inside.

The whole room was trashed, no doubt from the explosion that just happened, but Ruby could still make out a computer terminal in the room, as well as walls of hardware all wired up to some kind of pod in the very back of it. Then she saw it. In the center of the room was a chair, that looked like it had been bolted down to the floor, but now was on its back, and a human figure still sitting in it, despite its compromised position.

Ruby moved some scrap metal out of the way before applying her strength to pushing the hole wider. Metal grinded on metal as it gave away slowly, one inch at a time. Her arms gave out automatically before the machinery inside could risk overloading or breaking. The crack was still small, but she could squeeze through the gap with a little effort. She leaned back as she put her head and arms through first. Seeing a spot to grab, she lifted herself up so she could pull her legs in before lowering herself to the vault floor.

She took one last peek outside to make sure everything was alright before she went in. Yang flashed her a thumbs up as she continued to tower over the scientists, who were now sitting in a corner together.

Returning to the objective, Ruby walked over the rubble within toward the broken chair. The woman in it was unconscious, if her scanners were correct. She was dressed in a fine white top, with crochet lace swon around the neck and sleeves, and a knee long skirt around her waist and legs. No trauma or other injuries were detected by Ruby's once over, but she did have a doubled heartbeat. Ruby fell to a crouch as she continued to look her over. A proper scan showed the second heartbeat wasn't a fetus or anything. It appeared that she had two hearts, both pumping blood in synchronization. Ruby's mind wondered as she thought about the implications.

Two hearts was common in trolls, and it wasn't unheard of for other goblinoids to also grow a second one when they reach puberty. But there were no signs that she had any goblin blood in her. Her goggle's scanners didn't go any more in depth than that though, she could only see that her arms and legs were both robotic, and it looked like she had some kind of chrome on the right side of her head. Two triangular prongs extended through her pure, untamed white hair just above the ear, with small blue lights flashing on and off every third second.

She also had some super high quality synthskin for her arms, face and stomach area. The pure complexion made Ruby slightly jealous. She liked her natural look, but if she ever did get synthskin, she could only hope it was half as good as what this woman had.

Ruby lightly shook her shoulder, in hopes of stirring her awake. She made a soft groan in response to the action, but eyes remained closed. Not knowing what to do to wake her she took a seat next to her head, legs crossed, then proceeded to continually poke the woman's cheek. The thought came across to just pick her up and carry her, but doing that while she was unconscious could cause serious problems for her, even more so with the chrome plugged in so close to her brain. So continuing to poke the synthskin cheek was all she could do.

The sound of tearing metal outside of the vault drew her attention away from the women. She stood up to ask Yang what it was, but the sound of gunfire alerted her to it being a hostile. With full speed she bolted to the opening and took a peek outside.

Yang, alongside the scientists, were crouched under the desks they were next too, with the latter cowering in fear. Standing next to the door was a man in a black jump suit, with black metal plates over his forearms, shoulders, chest. A cream, wedge shaped helmet covered his head, hiding any trace of flesh underneath. The only thing that could be called a face was the vertical edge in front, and the only break in the featureless surface were brightly glowing red lines, the only representations of eyes she could see.

He stood in the doorway with a solid stance. Both of his pistols had some kind of plate that enclosed his knuckles, the tell sign for the Phantom Blade's signature weapon. Both were currently leveled at Yang, each firing pale blue hardlight rounds at a rate that almost made them appear to be laserbeams. Yang crouched below one the the desk, holding her gauntlets up as a makeshift shield against the onslaught.

Ruby pulled Crescent Rose from her waist, and fitted it through the hole to act as a stabilizer as she took aim at the man. The roar of her rifle drowned out the rapid pulsing of her opponent's own weapon. Ruby went dumbstruck as she watched him backhand her heavy round with the guard plate on his right pistol. Bringing up the left in the same motion, Ruby was forced to pull away as the air her head was in a moment before was consumed in pale blue light.

A second later the shots moved to a different location, but never stopped. This was bad, when they were hired they thought this would be an easy job, with their only real concern being Lone Star and their "special tactics" units. Why were "Ashita Tactical" here? What about this woman was so important that they would send a Phantom Blade?

Her attention was redrawn to the woman in the chair. Their objective was her, so they could just flee from their attacker, but the problem of how they would get out still remained. Ruby rushed back over to the woman, hoping Blake and Yang could hold out till she could get her awake.

Both hands came onto her shoulders and started shaking her lightly. Still she refused to stir, causing Ruby to shake harder. "Come on, wake up!" She shouted, this time being rewarded with a soft groan, and eye movement. She shook her again, but once more didn't get any reaction. The sound of Yang yelping before slamming into the wall forced Ruby's attention away. Panic started to encroach into her mind, and she returned to shaking the white haired woman even more fervently, her hand passed by the woman's face, knocking it to the side. A moment later Ruby jumped realizing she had just slapped her.

She was really losing it, the thought of slapping her hadn't even come into her mind, she just did it. A groan made Ruby rush to her side as the woman's eyes started to open.

"Oh good you're awake! Come on we need to go!" She practically shouted, jumping to her feet and grabbing the synthetic arm on her new companion.

"Where am I? What happened-"

"Can we do this later?" Ruby interrupted, pulling her up into a sitting position, hoping it would get her to comply in some manner. She didn't resist, unlike other people Ruby had to 'retrieve' in the past, and let herself get pulled onto her feet. She seemed in a daze, like she had just woken up after a long night.

She stood a little less than a head taller than Ruby, which already made her slightly more jealous of her. Her ice blue eyes, her hair, her face, everything about her was beautiful, which made Ruby incredibly jealous.

"Are you ok to walk? Or should I carry you?" Ruby asked, seeing her eyes drooping.

She looked like she was about to pass out right there. After a moment Ruby decided to carry her, she didn't look like she was in any condition to get anywhere quickly. She step up and started to reach out, but suddenly the woman's eyes saw something behind Ruby and next thing she knew she was falling after being pushed backwards.

"Look out!" She shouted both arms reaching to her right waist for something that wasn't there. After a moment and her left hand not finding it was looking for, she actually looked down to see nothing was there.

Ruby started to sit up, watching the women look around for whatever she thought was on her waist. After a moment, she snapped back to attention, her arms raised into a basic combat stance. Once more she was left looking around, whatever she thought she saw wasn't there anymore, from what Ruby could tell, and she watched the women look around again for whatever it was.

"Where did he go?" She asked no one in particular.

"Where did who go?" Ruby replied as she stood up.

"Koroku! He was right there." She said, gesturing to behind where Ruby was before being pushed to the ground.

Ruby looked to the direction she was suggesting, then back to the white haired women with a confused expression, "You're sure you don't want me to carry you? You seem kind of-"

Before she could finish the sentence, she was cut off, "No, you don't need to carry me! I saw him, right behind you!"

Ruby only stared blankly at her, about to speak again when the sound of of something slamming into the wall outside caught their attention. Ruby recognized the ensuing cry of pain as Blake's and rushed over to the opening in the vault. The woman continued looking around the ground, like she was looking for something. Then eventually the ruined computers, cables and objects caught her attention, afflicting a sense of awe in her.

"Come on! We need to go." Ruby called out to her.

"I can't find my sword!" She called out to the red scarfed warrior regaining her senses.

Ruby stated she didn't have a sword, only to get a look of shock in return. She gave one last once over for it before walking over to Ruby. A look of anger on her face, and a "tsk!" escaping through her bare teeth as she walked over to the opening.

Ruby climbed through with ease, swinging her feet so she could land outside in a single movement. Her heavy rifle was in hand before she even straightened herself up, and she quickly glanced from one flank to the next looking for any hostiles. The clash of hard light on hard light, and the beating sound of gunfire that had been muffled inside the vault, returned to her ears clear as day.

"Do you need help?" Ruby asked turning around to see the woman stepping up to the opening.

She took a quick peek outside seeing where she would be landing before working in her mind how to climb out. She placed both hands on some broken metal and started to prep herself, but stopped when a ringing in her ear moved her hand from the metal to her head. She gave a soft grunt of pain as a headache started to set in. The red eyed girl she was with turned to her, and despite not being able to see her face, her body language showed concern for her. She waved it off, and explained her head was just hurting as she massaged her temple and brow. Her fingers didn't feel right though, sparing a look she realized she was wearing some kind of gauntlet. A second passed and she realized she wasn't wearing anything, her arm was just completely metal! She looked to the other arm and saw it was in the same state.

The limbs weren't bulky, infact, they were proportioned to what her arms normally would be, though had flat metal faces with soft edges rather than the organic curves her normal arms would. She flexed her fingers, and found they still worked in the same capacity as before. She could even feel, despite them being metal. Her red and black themed companion seemed patient enough to wait for her as she continued to examine her arms. The headache not even processing in her mind.

In the corner of her eye, a black figure was on the ground starting to get up two large swords in his hands. A moment later she recognized the large gold crescent on the face of the helmet and called out to the red girl in front of her.

She turned to face Koroku leveling her weapon at him. It roared like thunder, as it fired something from it. She had heard of the westerners having weapons like these, but they were always described as being cumbersome and unreliable. Koroku rolled across the ground avoiding the attack, then righting himself back on his feet. More shots were fired, but this time he held his ground. His two swords made quick slashing movements, intercepting with seeming ease.

The red girl stopped her shooting, and adjusted her grip. The whole weapon opened up into a scythe, the blade glowed red like she had never seen before. Another girl, armed with a black sword and cleaver, appeared on the left flank, while on the right, one with glowing yellow fists and a matching mane of hair stepped into sight.

Koroku wasn't deterred, and took a defensive stance, both blades forward to intercept any attack. The new yellow warrior rushed forward, letting out a roar as she cocked back her fist. Koroku raised his arm to intercept hers, and push it away from him, as his other arm came in to slash at her midsection. Her knee caught his wrist stopping the attack while she countered with a left hook. The larger man had to lean back to avoid the attack, and completely disengage as the one with the sword came up to strike from behind. The armored man jumped back, rolling on his shoulders to get away, his katana's morphed into some kind of small hand held weapons.

Pulses of light, darted across the floor as he fired whatever strange weapons he had. Both of his targets dived out of the way, letting the attack harmlessly blast away at the background. Koroku traced their movements, shots leaving a line of debris in a trail behind them.

The attack stopped as red movement above caught his eye. The girl with the red scarf trailing behind, flew through the air her scythe cocked back to come down on him. The obvious attack was child's play to avoid. The glowing red blade going past into the ground with a simple side step. She continued her momentum instead of stopping though, the blade easily cutting through the tile floor as she brought it about to attack again. He avoided again only to avoid a third that followed with lighting speed. The next attacks came faster and faster, keeping him on the defensive as the deadly blade's flurry closed up the many obvious holes in her guard. The break he needed came as she let her scythe loop around her back for a horizontal strike. Koroku raised his foot to intercept the shaft as the blade came around to cleave him in two. With little effort he pushed it back, finally breaking his opponent's strike and leaving her open as his fist came forward straight in the kisser.

As she recoiled back he looped his blade with her own, locking it in place so she couldn't defend herself while he brought the other up over head. The black sword user rushed forward on his flank forcing him to stop his attack to block hers. Sparks flew off the two blades as they met, grinding up till they were at each other's hilts. A twist of his wrist and he had his blade on the inside of her sword's small hand guard. She refused to let go of her blade, letting herself be pulled forwards instead. His foot caught her, punishing her mistake as the hard impact forced her from her blade while she went flying back, skidding across the ground. The red girl called out to her as she came to a stop, leaving herself distracted. Koroku twisted their weapons around, leaving her open as he jumped into the air and delivered a strong kick to her head, sending her to the ground as well, only stopping when she slammed into one of the desks.

A battlecry pulled Koroku's attention away from the two, as Yang rushed in, nailing him square in the face with a mighty blow. His feet left the ground, as her's slammed down to stop her momentum. She watched him fly across the room before finally slamming down on the hard tile, then skipped across the hard surface out the door. The sound of him tumbling down the stairs echoed into the room as the two girls picked themselves up, a little worse for wear.

One of the scientists started to crawl to his feet from his hiding spot under the desk Ruby slammed into, before diving back down as gunfire returned to the room. All three of the girls also moved to different desks seeking cover. Ruby tumbled forward, landing on her feet, scythe returned to its rifle form. Peeking over the thin metal surface, she could see the black figure in the back, his legs spread so he could prop himself on the walls high enough to see in.

She fired a return shot, but as expected, he just tucked his legs in, letting gravity pull him down out of sight. Ruby held overwatch on the door, as both Yang and Blake darted from desk to desk as they advanced for his second assault.

"Are you ok?" Ruby turned, so see the white haired women speaking to one of the scientists who was cowering next to her.

"Tā yīdìng shì zài zhèlǐ děng nǐ. Nǐ bùshì zhèlǐ bù ānquán, nǐ xūyào líkāi zhèlǐ!"

A box opened on Ruby's visor as she watched the man, his words being translated to english for her.

"Nǐ zài liúxuè. Wǒmen xūyào dédào nín de zhìliáo shī." The women responded, the box translating her words from Mandarin to English, " _You're bleeding. We need to get you a healer_."

He followed her eyes to his shoulder to see his lab coat had turned crimson. He spread the small cut in the fabric to take a look at the injury. It was a small cut, nothing to worry about. The hard light could be sharper than obsidian, letting them make very clean cuts, and moved fast enough so they couldn't cauterize the wound. Something like this would probably just be a scratch for a couple days, a week at most.

"Wǒ huì méishì de, rúguǒ nǐ líkāi wǒmen dūhuì gèng ānquán. Tā zhǐshì zài zhèlǐ děng nǐ."

" _I'll be fine, and we'll all be safer if you leave. He's only here for you_."

"How do we get out of here then?" Ruby asked, hoping he could speak some english.

The man didn't acknowledge her directly, instead focusing still on the white haired women. He mentioned the door in the back of the room, and told her it would lead to the roof. She nodded in understanding then, stood up.

"Koroku! Let's finish this outside!" She shouted toward the doorway, causing everyone present to turn to her. She shifted her stance, while raising her hand to make a beckoning motion.

"Wait! Don't-" Ruby shouted as she watched her run off.

Gunfire erupted from the doorway, preventing her from pursuing. The sound of the pulsing was getting louder as the Phantom Blade charged forward. In her mind she visualized where he was. He must have been running, no doubt prioritizing his objective rather than them. He had to be passing Yang at this point,which meant she would get a clear shot while he was distracted.

The sound of the hard light fire stopped, and Ruby quickly straightened up, bringing the barrel of Crescent Rose down on the desk and bracing it against her shoulder. She saw Yang laying on the ground, holding her face, and Blake still in cover. A second later, her vision went black as something impacted her head. As she fell backwards light returned to her as she landed. A moment later the stomp of an unseeable foot landing next to her head revealed what happened.

"After him!" She shouted as she rolled onto her front.

She sprinted ahead, running around the vault just in time to see the door closing. She pressed herself to go faster, leaping through the air so her foot could take the lead as she kicked open the metal surface.

The door slammed on the wall with a loud bang. Ruby curled up into a ball as she hit the ground, and rolled out the momentum. Rising to her feet she presented her weapon for any immediate threats, but found none. The stairwell went down another two floors, and up all the way to the top of the building. She ignored how impractical this whole building layout was. It was almost a century old, so the layout probably made sense at the time.

She bolted up the steps, taking them three at a time. Hearing footsteps echoing further up above her keeping pace with her speed.

"Ms. Schnee, wait!" A male voice called from above. The thought that she was behind got to her, and with all her strength she kicked off the flat she was on, jumping the next flight of steps in a single bound. Her feet came up to stop her as she passed over the final step and continued on toward the wall. The concrete cracked as she made impact, and she hung there for a second before gravity regained its grasp on her. More softly this time, she landed on the ground and continued her run. The lunge turned out to be slower than her original pace, making her growl to herself in annoyance as the consistent turns kept her from using her true speed.

Soon she found herself coming up on the final flight of stairs. The door was cracked open, the sound of the storm outside still raging at full force. Ruby kicked it open, letting it slam on the outside wall as she stepped out. Her rifle was leveled as she stepped out, looking for the phantom blade or the women. Thunder rumbled in the clouds, drawing Ruby's attention to above.

:::::

The heavy rain pounded on her lithe frame as she ran across the gravel. Her clothes were soaked, and her white hair had greyed from the water. The night air was warm and the rain was actually relaxing to the touch. As she stepped toward the edge of the building she was on she sneaked a peek over the edge. Rain fell down toward the streets far below as small specks moved along them, with countless people along the sides. She pulled back, realizing she had been holding her breath a moment later.

The building she was on was taller than anything she'd ever seen before. She felt like she was on top of a mountain, yet despite it, several more buildings stood even taller amongst the city, each glowing a variety of colors, with strange moving signs and other symbols scattered about she couldn't identify.

A red form rushed past her from behind, the tailwind catching her with enough strength to throw her forwards. A yelp escaped her as gravity took hold of her, pulling her toward the ground far below.

Her arm automatically reached out and grabbed the ledge she just slipped from. The the stone that made up its shape cracked under her powerful grip while the rest of her body swung softly in the air. The people below continued on, completely oblivious to her predicament, while the red shape continued on, sharing their ignorance.

Its serpent-like body moved through the air with ease. She had never seen anything like it before outside old paintings or stories. The word "dragon" echoed in her mind while her jaw silently mouthed in unison.

Gravel crunched under footsteps, drawing closer to her as she started to collect herself. A man in black clothes and armor, with a strange cream colored helmet stepped into sight looking down at her. Unsure of his intentions she tightened her grip onto the ledge, but refrained from showing him any hostility directly.

"Do you require assistance Miss Schnee?" His voice was human, but had a very emotionless monotone to it.

He reached his hand out, which she promptly took. It didn't seem like it took any effort on his part to lift her up in his one hand high enough for her to place her feet on the ledge. He released her, then turned to leave.

"We must go. You aren't safe here." He commented as he started walking away.

"Slow down there, sir." Her comment making him stop and give her his full attention, "I appreciate the help, but I don't know who you are, all I know is Koroku is about and no one is safe till I can put him down for good."

The man cocked his head in confusion, muttering the name to himself to help along with figuring out what she was talking about. "Who?" He finally asked, giving up.

"Koroku of Yumari."

"..."

"The Black Giant?"

"..."

"The Bloodstained Daimyo?"

"I apologize, but I am afraid I have heard of no one of the name or titles." He replied, his monotone giving way slightly to shame.

This man kept calling her "Schnee" for some reason, a name she'd never heard before. He also had never heard of Koroku, a man even everyone across the provinces knew, even if it was just the name.

"Where am I? What happened?" The first girl she saw didn't answer the questions, but maybe he would.

"This is Singapore. One of the Four Asian Tigers. City law enforcement is near universally controlled by Lone Star. George Han has been Prime Minister for-"

"Sing a pore?" The syllables being pronounced individually, "I don't know where I am then. Do you know what direction Kannadaco is?"

"I'm afraid Kannadaco isn't a real place. Singapore is located on the tip of the Malaysian Peninsula in Southeast Asia."

She stared at him, expecting him to burst out laughing or in some other way show he was joking. How could he not know what Kannadaco is. Even merchants from the west knew what Kannadaco was before they even arrived in the Provinces.

She turned back to the city taking in the site. She hadn't seen anything like it before, but surely a city like this would be known across the world. Its gold spires stood taller than anything she had ever seen. All the lights that seemed to be magic to her eyes. Wherever she was, she certainly wasn't in Ameritaki.

"Come, I have a prearranged residence for the next week before we head to Tokyo." He stated, waving his arm to have her come along.

Normally she would be skeptical about the situation, but she wasn't dumb enough to think she could make her way home in such a strange place without some kind of direction. She looked over the city, taking in its sights, a second time before following. She didn't trust the man, she didn't even know his name which raised red flags immediately, but he hadn't done anything to be branded as a threat either.

The rain continued its assault without remorse, the rumbling thunder breaking into lightning, connecting with the spring tips of the building. The door to the staircase was wide open. Footsteps started to stand out from the sound of the rain, running towards them. She turned to see who it was. Strange objects stood on the roof from giant cubes making a rumbling noise, to pipes connecting different points with each other. Finally the source of the footsteps appeared into sight. The girl with the red scarf, stopped on the spot the moment she saw them, sliding on the wet gravel as she dug her heels in.

"Hey!" She shouted, finally slowing to a halt and aiming the strange red weapon at them.

Her escort growled, as he stepped forward, his right arm coming up to separate her from the red girl, while the other grabbed a strange device on his hip. After a moment the panel on the back of his palm made a soft click before quickly rolling open into a crescent shaped sickle like weapon.

Holding the weapon in front of him like a sword, the inside crescent of the weapon started to hum, as a light blue light enveloped the edge.

"Persistent..."

* * *

 **Sorry for the delay, this guy was a pain to get out. Let me know what you guys think, I always enjoy feedback. Thanks to Lazerbear7 and Spartacus400 for their help.**

 **Till next time Review + Follow.**


	4. Acquiring Assets

Red and blue streaks slashed through the air across the roof. The soft hiss of rain as it came into contact with the blades made a soft backdrop alongside the storm. The red girl moved with a speed that was surely inhuman. Her scythe trailed behind her making huge sweeping strikes, with a force that would knock even a man in full armor into the air. Cleaving through the surrounding obstructions like they weren't even there, she was clearly in her element, a continuous barrage of attacks constantly changing direction every couple of strikes.

She would have thought the man with the glowing blue sickles would be wanting to close in, take away Red's advantage in reach. Instead he was consistently backing off, only for her to dart behind him, and force him back the other way. His armor and blades had become transparent by some obvious form of mysticism. The blue of his blade still glowed for all to see, but when he wasn't actively striking or defending, they were off; making him nearly impossible to see. Were it not for the rain breaking on his form he would be.

Backing away from the two combatants, "Schnee" made her way towards the door down the stairs she ran up. The two sides clearly had an agenda with her. To what end, she couldn't even begin to guess. Perhaps someone else would be willing to help her.

Getting down was the problem though. She jogged across the roof, until she reached the edge. Looking around, she tried to identify anything that would take her back inside the building. The rain obscured her vision where the light of the buildings didn't shine through, and none of the obstacles that she could see looked like a way down. A deep breath released some of her irritation. Her mood was rapidly souring in the rain. Being wet, even if it was a warm rain, two people trying to have her go with them, the slight pain her her stomach demanding food, she just wanted to find some place dry that served noodles. The thought of 'Old Oako's sauced noodles made her mouth water, and strengthened her desire to be some place else.

A strange sound behind her made her stop in her tracks. The wind started to pick up as a strange whine rung through the air. Looking to the source, a craft the like she had never seen before floated into sight. Long and angular, it floated in the rain with no effort. The wind and the source of the sound was emitted from holes in the two wings on its side, with something moving within almost too fast to see.

A bright light from the the front of the flying vessel sparked to life, blinding her as it consumed her sight. Her hand rose to shield them, but the blinding light still hurt her eyes.

"Freeze!" A loud voice boomed from the craft, though who she couldn't see, "On the ground, now!" they ordered, their tone betraying an apparent authority they thought they had over her.

Her eyes continued adjusting to the light, and she started moving her hand away from her face slowly so she could see. There was an opening in the side of the craft now, a man in black armor with a gold star painted on the front was crouched next to the opening pointing, what she guessed to be a weapon similar to what the others had, at her. A moment later a pair of hands came around her, grabbing her wrist. A forceful pull threw her balance to the side, and the leg she tried to move to stop her fall was blocked by something. With a hard crash she fell face first into the gravel, her attacker still holding onto her arms.

"Who are you? Let me go!" She protested, the only response was a pair of clicks as something was placed on her wrist. She struggled to free herself, but her new restraints were too strong for her. Her metal arms didn't yeild in her attempt to free herself, a shock rolled up her arms causing pain throughout her body. She yelped, the pain making her twitch involuntarily. After a moment the man did something with the cuffs, causing it to stop.

"Target neutralized. Human, female, pure white hair. Upper twenties to lower thirties in age, with extensive chrome work to both arms and legs. Chrome in both lower and upper brain, along with her eyes. No detectable arms on her person-"

The sound of the fighting echoed through the rain drawing his attention away from her. He pulled some kind of goggles, mounted to the top of his large bulky helmet, over his eyes. The two eye pieces stuck out from the rest of the device, reminding her of what the King's Jewelers would wear when they worked on the royal gems.

"Hostiles identified on the Roof, hard light weapons detected."

A muffled voice from somewhere spoke back to him. The man that was on the craft she saw jumped down, weapon leveled, followed by a full squad. Her subduer got up and took a position next to the rest of them. A women, looking at the shape of the armor, jumped down and walked over to her.

"Hex, stay with the suspect, she matches the description of the Architect VIP."

"Roger, Kitten." She spoke back, crouching down next the white haired girl as she rolled onto her back.

The man let out a growl at the use of his nickname before signaling to his squad instructions. "Two targets on the roof confirmed. Both armed, but currently fighting each other. Assume hostile." He made a few more signals with his hands, before the squad stood and started moving across the roof.

The other four squad members lowered their goggles to see clearly through the rain. Two, including their squad sniper, moved to the left crouching behind an air vent. 'Kitten' and the other two squad members stacked up against a skylight that went all the way down to the front lobby.

"Point is on overwatch duty, Ryder will hug the left flank. Lion, you take right, me and Jester will take point."

'Point' leveled her heavy sniper on the vent system, the bipod taking the weight off her arms so she could aim better. The vent system ran along the side of the building till meeting up at a small utility shed in the corner, which managed the air systems and the water. Solar panels covered the roof obscuring her vision to an extent though the special lenses in her scope would make their obstruction irrelevant. In the far corner she could see where the staircase down into the building was. Movement towards the right side caught her attention and she focused her scope on it.

"Obvious runner, armed with a heavy ballistic rifle. Right side."

"I got him." Lion called over the radio as he dashed between the solar panels and vent heads to minimize his exposure.

He could hear the fighting right next to him, but he avoided showing himself prematurely. He flipped the small switch to set the underbarrel hard light shots to primary. The crunch of gravel as his prey ran towards him revealed their location. Steadying himself, he aimed his rifle down to where their feet would be.

As expected they ran into view. Back to him as they spun on their heel to face whoever they were fighting. Their right foot hung back to stop their slide, a quick adjustment of his aim, then Lion fired his shot, right at their heel.

A small feminine yelp escaped his target as they fell on their back, their center of gravity preventing them from righting themselves. With instinctual reflexes, he brought the butt of his gun up to strike her in the head while she was still phased from his attack. Her left arm intercepted the attack, catching it in her hand.

Swinging her feet, she lashed out at the officer, missing by only a hair, but forcing him to release his weapon to avoid it. Taking her moment she rolled back her weight enough to jump up onto her toes in a crouch. Lion drew the pistol on his waist and brought it to bare. The gunshots echoed in the air as he tried to land a hit, but his opponent was too fast. Using the two weapons in her hands as makeshift swords she swatted at his weapon trying to remove the threat.

Their dance was mostly one sided, Lion's opponent was fast, even with the odd weight distribution of holding two large firearms in her hands she flowed effortlessly from one attack to the next. Tired of being on the defensive he rolled the dice by leaving his center open. The red hooded runner took the bait immediately, jumping at him, foot lashing out to kick him to the ground. Lion raised his knee, the guard plate projecting a hard light panel, to intercept. The force of her kick stopped Lion's knee without effort, but the hard light plate also held, sending the entire force of the kick back into her.

Seeing her stumble back, Lion dashed forwards grabbing her left wrist, while his right hand came around to pistolwhip her in the head. The force of the blow knocked her head till her chin touched her shoulder. He was sure he hit her in the temple, but she still stood. Such a blow should have put someone down for the count, if not send them to the hospital.

His foe's own goggles illuminated, glowing bright red before the head snapped back to face him. His gun was released from her grip as she tried to pull away from him. Lion shifted forward slightly to remain upright and holding her in place.

"I got yo-!" His voice was suddenly silenced as the hooded runner's left hand suddenly pushed forward with strength that he wasn't expecting, coming around his throat. He pulled at it, as the metal limb started to squeeze, but it had no effect. His throat felt like it was in a trash compactor, his struggles doing nothing to aid him.

He tried to make a desperate plea of surrender, but he couldn't work the air to make the sounds, just a struggling wheeze. The pressure was suddenly released, and he realized he was in the air over her head. He reached the arc of his flight and it looked like he was going to land on top of her face first. The glowing red eyes remained focused on him, but his own eyes were drawn to the glowing red scythe now in her hands, prepared to meet him.

With a single effortless swing, Ruby brought Crescent Rose around, cleaving a red trail through the Lone Star Officer's body, splitting him in two. She held Crescent Rose up defensively, waiting for another would-be attacker. None showed themselves, and she relaxed letting her weapon return to its rifle form.

"Yang, Lone Star is here."

"Can it wait? Lone Star just showed up, they are swarming the whole building." Gun fire could be heard in the background.

"I'm going after the objective, get the van and we'll meet up later."

"Right, van. Sure-" her voice came to a sudden stop, making Ruby pause with slight concern. "You just cut my hair..." Ruby let out a breath glad that nothing actually serious had happened. **"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU PIECE OF-"**

Ruby cut the commlink she had with Yang, confident she'd be alright. The sound of a small explosion much further down in the building only solidifying it. She turned her focus from her sister to her target, the Phantom Blade seemed to have disappeared, and Ruby guessed he was already moving to steal her away. She bolted across the building her vision turning red as her mind shut off all external thought that didn't involve the mission.

Kitten and Jester ran up the center. The two hostiles were moving between all the obstructions making them consistently lose sight of them. Lion confirmed he was going to be engaging one of them, which mean they could push forward, with Ryder ready to loop around and flank them.

"Point, I've lost my visual, where are they?"

Static was the only reply, making Kitten call again, this time with some concern. More static buzzed in his ear.

"Hex, check on Point." Static.

"Com interference." Jester pointed out, fiddling with his own system.

"Rain?"

"At two kilometers maybe, but not a couple meters." Jester pointed out.

"Come on, let's regroup, I don't want us separated if we can't-"

Movement caught his eye. Rain breaking on something moving towards them. "Look out!" Kitten shouted, raising his bullpup rifle toward the incoming threat. The burst of gunfire muted the rain, the jackets cutting through the drops toward the invisible target. Jester turned to face the opposition, bringing up his own rifle to fire. A sudden shift let the transparent shape avoid the shots as it continued to rush forward.

Kitten followed the target, but avoided shooting when Jester came into the line of fire. Jester himself pulled the trigger on his rifle, but his weapon was still a little off from his intended target, making the shots go wide.

An impact in Jester's center sent him off his heels. Flying back like a piece of paper into one of the solar panels, the impact forcing the air from his lungs. Gravity pulled him to his knees, mind still in shock from the hard blow.

Now with a clear shot Kitten started firing again, firing short bursts as the invisible target wove back and forth to avoid his fire. The invisible figure leapt into the air, the rain the only thing revealing his movements, as Kitten raised his weapon to follow. The gun was knocked from his grip as he felt a solid force push down on it. A second blow with equal strength slammed into his face, knocking him to the ground.

Gravel crunched underneath him, as he slip across the rooftop. His focus shifted to the pain in his nose, the obvious feeling of blood starting to flow out, to the sound of thunder, to the sound of hard light humming with power. Kitten's vision focused, clearing away the blurs into discernible shapes and colors. Jester came into view first, his face next to Kitten's shoulder. Pushing himself up Kitten found Jester's body down by his feet, looking up a blue glowing hook hovered in the air in front of him. His mind was slowed by ringing in his ears, but his arms knew what to do. In less then a second, he had the pistol on his waist trained on where he could only guess his attacker was. The blue blade passed by as he pulled the trigger, but the weapon didn't discharge. After a second, he realized his gun wasn't there anymore, nor his hand. The blade came around again from the opposite direction, this time on a collision course with his head.

The Lone Star officer collapsed to the ground, dead. Rain continuing to break on the transparent form of the Phantom blade.

"Hidekatsu, we expected you to have obtain the package by now."

"My apologies, a team of runners has interfered with my progress." He stated, turning to continue with the mission.

"Are you suggesting a group of street punks are a match for Ashita's finest trained and equipt soldiers?"

"No sir, they are merely simple annoyances. However they have suspiciously high quality gear to just be normal runners."

There was a pause on the other side of the line while his superiors thought on the information. "Perform your mission, I shall have your friends investigated. Find some information that could aid you, should they pursue. This 'Aurora Schnee' has been deemed by the chairman to be of absolute importance, do not fail him.'"

Hidekatsu didn't respond, instead opting to cut the communication so he could return his focus to his objective. His optics focused on the battlefield before him. Weiss was sitting on the ground, with an officer kneeling beside her. A gunship hovered slightly behind them, but it's guns were pointing off to the side, presenting its side doors instead. Off in the corner was a sniper looking across the rooftop for a target.

He rushed forward, discrediting the sniper as a threat as he sprinted across the gravel. Weaving between the solar panels and leaping a set of vents he closed in on the officer next to his target. Weiss looked up, facing directly at him, though she didn't seem to make a response. Her guard noticed the sudden change and followed her focus.

It didn't take long for her to notice him, the rain being a persistent annoyance for him as always. He noted the quick speed she could draw her pistol, and bring its fire to bear. He broke his assault to avoid her fire, deeming the distance too far for him to strike. Her shots were well placed, but the distortion of his cloaking field meant she couldn't immediately react to his movements. The gunship behind her started to turn seeing the officer in distress. He rushed full speed, seeing his window of opportunity to steal away his target closing. Avoiding semi-automatic fire was one thing, avoiding an autocannon was a feat he was well aware he couldn't do. He activated his blades, letting the blue hardlight envelop them as he came within striking distance. His blades came into striking position as the officer's pistol focused in on where his head was.

* * *

Ruby rushed towards the gunfire as fast as she could. She knew the Phantom Blade was closing in on their target, and she needed to hurry. She used as much of her enhanced speed as she could, only having to slow herself for the obstacles in her way. Her focus fully centered on the mission. At times she even felt like there was another force commanding her as she went. A heavy caliber weapon discharged it's shot to her right, and she looked over her shoulder to see who was shooting. She was slightly shocked to see Crescent Rose in its rifle form pointed back past her side. Another officer fell to the ground, his upper chest splattered across the solar panel behind him.

Turning her gaze forward, she saw a sniper across the way, their focus somewhere else though. Her arm swung forward, not wanting to risk anything, and with her optic implant focused her aim on their head. She fired her weapon with only a single arm, never breaking stride as she ran. The heavy caliber shot having minimal recoil in her mechanical grip. She scored the hit, their head exploding into gib, the force pulling the body over the ledge.

With all immediate threats neutralized, she turned her focus on her last target. She leaped over some vents in time to see the Phantom Blade deliver a roundhouse kick to the last Lone Star officer, sending her back over the lip of the building. Her VP rolled in her spot to look over the edge as the echoes of the female officer's screams continued to come over the ledge.

The gunship hovering next to them finished pivoting around. A search light flashed on, flooding the rooftop in bright white light. Ruby's optics dimmed the light so it didn't blind her, but the actual craft was still a silhouette. The soft sound of static echoed in her ears, before a pulse of energy emitted from the nose of the craft blasting away the gravel near by, and knocking Ruby back a step.

Her metal fingers and toes sporadically twitched and curled. Her Optic HUD broke into static, and the parts of her sight that relied on her augments became either blurs or holes in her vision. The flood light, flashed over her, before moving away. She could see the phantom blade also standing there, twitching the same way she was. After a few long seconds she regained control of her body.

"Freeze! Your augments have been disabled, surrender or lethal force will be used." The gunship pilot commanded. The heavy gun mounted below the nose pivoted slightly to focus on Ruby further back, to prevent her from escaping. Hidekatsu took advantage of the situation, and let his weapons compact into their ranged forms. The gun on the ship turned to impose the pilot's will on him, but it was too slow. A bragge of blue hardlight fire passed the distance between him and the cockpit. The hair thin projectiles so fine, they passed through the bullet resistant glass without breaking it. The only damage to the transparent surface being the dozens of small sliver sized holes.

The craft dipped to the side, falling several feet before red lights inside the cockpit came to life. The craft stabilized itself, and started moving to return to its original spot. Seeing her chance Ruby rushed forward, hoping to snatch up the cuffed women before her opposition could. Her speed was gone though, her mechanical legs only carried her as fast as her old biological ones. She had always been fast, but she certainly didn't have any kind of inhuman speed before her enhancements.

Hidekatsu being right next to her, returned the weapon in his right hand to its blade form, and he slashed out Ruby forcing her to back off. Turning back to the gunship, he took aim at one of the turbines in its wing and open fired. After half a second, a small explosion erupted from the center of the turbine and the craft rocked as it started to fall on it's damaged flank.

Hidekatsu turned to the still sitting women, who seemed to be in some form of shock, and quickly grabbed her. He noticed the strength in his arm was gone, and quickly took her up bridal style.

"Hey, what are you-" She was cut off when he turned to the falling craft and leaped off the building.

"Why is nothing simple?" Ruby growled as she ran to the edge making her own dive off the edge.

Aurora was screaming at the top of her lungs as they free fell towards the earth below. Hidekatsu said something to her, probably in an attempt to calm her, but it fell on deafened ears. A small thud silenced her. The craft, despite falling towards the streets below, was still attempting to right itself, preventing it from entering a more catastrophic speed. Sprinting along the good wing toward the main body, Hidekatsu came to a stop when a second thud came behind him.

"Hey!" Ruby shouted, sprinting after him when he turned to continue running towards the body. Setting her down, he used his sickle blade to cut a small crack into the hull. He instructed her to hold on, but didn't wait for a response as he turned to face Ruby. The red girl circled around the turbine, to avoid being sucked in, her weapon already ready for melee.

Ruby opened with a wide horizontal strike, sparks coming off her red blade, as the pair of blue crescents came down from overhead to stop it. She let his strength push her away, while she side stepped to set up her riposte. The spear tip on her pommel came up to slash at his face, but only left a scratch along where she guessed the cheek was as he leaned back. Sliding her foot forward behind his, she brought the pommel back catching him on his collar. Hidekatsu was forced to tumble away, or be forced to the ground right in striking range. The falling craft made him hang longer than he wanted, making sure he landed further then he wanted too and in a poor position, late into the roll.

He jumped up with ease and turned, blades ready to block the incoming attack. None came though. Ruby had her weapon on her waist as she sprinted over to Aurora.

"Time to bail!" She shouted, adjusting her so she could be lifted bridal style again.

She tried to protest, but Ruby didn't pay her any mind as she ran towards the edge of the ship, rapidly nearing the ground. With all the strength she could muster, she kicked off, aiming for a small side alley.

Feet forward, she collided with the wall at an angle. The brickwork crumbling as she slid across the surface, the friction slowing her down slightly. A fire escape, cut off her route, forcing her to kick off to the opposite wall. She slid along for another second, before her horizontal movement was spent. With practiced movements she jumped from one wall to the next each time breaking her fall as she made her way towards the ground.

She slammed into the ground, a little harder than she intended to. A loud crash sounded a moment later further down the main street, causing both women to pause and look for a moment.

"Please tell me he died in that." Ruby muttered to herself, setting Aurora down when she started to struggle in her grip. She immediately ran off with a small wobble in her steps before hunching over a trash bin, and releasing some kind of strange white jelly that had been in her stomach.

"Too much excitement for ya?" Ruby joked lightheartedly, also agreeing it had been more exciting than she had expected.

"You're crazy!" She got in response as her VIP righted herself and started to step away.

"Only if I didn't know what I was doing!" She pouted back, fist on her waist, as she tapped her foot in annoyance. "Now come on, we need to get out of here before more police show up."

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Her target turning and running as fast as she could.

"Wait! Stop!" She called, taking off after her, "Slow down! My legs aren't as long as yours!"

Ruby huffed after her, annoyed her augments weren't working. She could easily chase her down if they were. As they neared the end of the alley, her target was starting to make some distance, and Ruby started to fear she would get away.

A horn sounded and people screamed as they moved away from the alley entrance. A van screeched to a stop in front of Aurora, cutting her off before she entered the street. The door slid open, and Ruby saw Yang standing there.

"In you go." She stated as she pulled their target inside the van, throwing her into one of the seats along the wall. Taking a moment to spot Ruby, she turned back to push down their VIP, who was in the process of trying to escape.

"Nice timing." The red runner called as she climbed in, slamming the door closed, before slamming her fist on the roof, signalling she was in. Blake slammed on the pedal, the vehicle surging forward as she pulled back onto the street. Their prisoner continued to struggle, till she accidentally reactivated the cuffs. She yelled out in pain, while Ruby and Yang struggled to figure out how to turn them off. After a long painful minute, they finally got it to turn off, much to the relief of all of them.

Both runners sat down on opposite sides of each other, Ruby sitting next to their VIP. Both let out a breath in sync with each other. It had been a busy day. A grumble from Ruby's stomach pulled her attention away from the situation at hand.

"So, who's hungry? I am. You like Chinese?" She asked, looking over to their captive.

* * *

 **Whew, finally pumped this guy out. Sorry it took to long, motivational problems. Not as in, " _I don't want to work on this anymore._ " More like, " _I'm really in the mood to play some more Chronicles: Runescape Legends/System Shock 2/Civ5/EU4._ " I will make an effort to get the next chapter out sooner (should be easier since there isn't as much action) the it took me to get this guy out.**

 **Thanks as always to Lazerbear7, and /u/Spartacus400 for helping me with editing.**

 **Till next timeReview + Follow.**


	5. Contacts

She had many expectations. Locked in a prison cell, tortured, interrogated, even execution creeped into her mind at one point. Dinner at a noodle stall in an underground plaza wasn't one of them. Her and her three kidnappers took the four seats at the counter while the cook continued to flip the chicken. He added a healthy amount of soy sauce and other ingredients to the wok, as he prepared their meal. The other three didn't seem to have a care in the world as they talked amongst themselves, leaving her mind to wander where it pleased; namely the magical box with the moving pictures in the upper corner. She had no idea what it was called, so opted to name it a "television," she didn't know where the word came from, but for some reason it fit perfectly.

"You sure you only want a little? We've got plenty of money if you want more." Ruby asked, nudging their "captive" in the side to get her attention.

"Should I just make more, for you to take with you?" The man behind the counter asked, interested in the prospect of more money.

"Sure, might as well." Yang suggested, taking off her helmet. She ran her hand through her hair, pulling it from underneath her armor, then giving her head a small shake. She placed her helmet on the counter next to Ruby's.

The three started removing their armor. Aurora broke her gaze with the television that had captivated her till then to inspect their appearance. Their armor carapace came off at the forearms first, revealing somewhat blocky metal limbs similar to hers. Their upper arms came off next, revealing flesh rather than steel, save the one who introduced herself as "Yang."

They messed with the sides of their armor for a moment, a few snaps and pops later and it came open at the bottom along the sides, letting them pull it over their heads. "Ruby," as she called herself, was wearing a black shirt with short sleeves, while Yang wore a bright orange sleeveless top. Blake wore a white jacket, with a black bow on her head.

With their helmets on the table and armor at their feet next to their chairs, they went back to talking about random things. 'Men' was one of the only subjects she could partly understand. She turned her gaze back to the television she let it recaptivate her as the pictures moved and changed like they were alive.

"Police and Lone Star investigators are searching for three Runners who attacked Architect Company Headquarters tonight at 11:50 PM, just three hours ago." Pictures flashed on the screen, showing stills of the three 'Runners' she was currently sitting next to. "Architect and their parent company Argonaut Enterprises, are offering a reward for any known information about them, or their target, a woman who has yet to be identified, but is believed to have been kidnapped by the suspects." Another image, this time of her, came on the screen.

The screen turned black for a moment before lighting up again with a close up view of an insect of some kind.

"I hate commercials." The cook commented holding some long device in his hand, pointed at the box. The sound of Yang placing a small "credstick," as it was called on the counter, followed after. Instead of putting it under the counter like when they paid for the food, the cook dropped it in his pocket then returned to his work.

"Ruby, was it?" She asked looking to the smallest member of their team.

"Yeah. What do you need, Weiss Queen?" She asked with a smug look, knowing she'd get the reaction she wanted.

"Stop calling me that!" Aurora flared up, her fist slamming on the wood countertop.

"Hey! You break it you buy it!" The cook shouted, as he finished preparing their food.

She hated that name. She had a rather immature spat while they were in the van, and misheard Ruby when she mumbled "Ice Queen" to herself. When she repeated what she thought she heard, all three of them were quick to jump on the opportunity to mock her.

"Alright, what did you want?" In a more serious tone this time.

"I wanted to know what you were going to do with me. So far, all my expectations have proven wrong and I honestly don't know what's going to happen." Her voice taking a softer tone as she spoke.

"We're eating." She said, just as the cook started placing their chicken and rice in front of them.

"I, mean after that." She corrected, not sure if the red haired girl was mocking her again.

"Well first we need to sell the van, there is an elf named Morvan who runs a chop shop that'll give us some pocket change and take care of the evidence for us. Then we're going to catch a plane to Hong Kong, then find our way to Jolly Ol' England. We drop you off in London City then get paid."

"What happens to me?" She asked, to deep in thought to actually eat her food. Ruby just shrugged, but seeing that wasn't a good enough answer she finished her bite, then elaborated.

"We're runners. We don't work for Mr. Johnson, we don't even know his actual name, we don't know anything about him. He's paying for us to come out here, break you out, and bring you to him. It's not our place to ask why. If you want a guess though, I'd say he's probably just going to have you work for his company. That's a regular part of the work place. You come in, find out your co-worker was kidnapped the night before and now works for your competitor, standard affair."

"Why would they want me?" She asked, confused as to why someone would want her specifically.

Ruby Shrugged, while she took a bite of food "He mentioned that you were used as a test subject and that you were highly valued because of your unique set of talents. We didn't ask for more details."

Weiss sat in thought for a moment. She had been planning to ditch the group the moment she saw an opening, but now she wasn't so sure. If she was being used as a test subject, she doubted she would want to go back. The police in this city were apparently highly corrupt, and very powerful people paid them lots of money to keep them that way.

"What did that other man want?" He was fighting to take her too, there had to be a third group that also wanted her.

"He was one of Ashita Tactical's infamous 'Phantom Blades.' An elite unit of soldiers they deploy to protect their corporate interest. They are propagated as noble warriors that protect the company and its employees, but they're not. They're some of the most ruthless soldiers out there."

"So what would he want from me?"

"As you saw on the TV, you were an Argonaut asset. Ashita and Argonaut are direct competitors with each other. Both are mainly weapon manufacturers, and whenever one of them expands into a different market, the other follows just to keep them in check. Ashita works more with high tech weaponry, and military commissions. Argonaut are mostly make service weapons and provide to nations around the world. Though as members of the 'Big Nine,' they have stakes in just about everything, and the few pies they don't have their fingers in are just so small they haven't found it yet."

"What are the 'Big Nine?" The question seemed innocent enough, yet immediately all three girls stopped eating to look at her. Even the cook had his mouth open slightly in shock.

"What rock have you been living under?" He asked scratching his head in bewilderment.

"Well that's a two part question." Ruby butted in, taking a guess she honestly didn't know.

"First, you need to know what the Big Nine are, before you can understand what they are. So corporations are broken down into four rankings. First is the unranked, these are the small mom and pop shops, or your local grocer. Our friend James here, is an unranked." Ruby gesturing to the now named cook.

"Next you have A ranked corporations, these would be a fast food chain or something. The first and honestly biggest requirement to becoming an A ranked company is you have to be international. AA comes in after that, these are normally large companies that are strong enough to avoid being puppeted by the Big Nine, and normally work in several industries, control the line of production, or have monopolies on whatever good they sell. Then you have AAA, so far there are only nine that hold this rank, hence their name. And to get the sense of scale they are is hard. I guess you could describe them as nations, they might control seventeen different mining companies, dozens of factories across the globe, have their own entertainment production houses, a few banks, a personal military-" She cut herself off, rethinking what she was going to say.

"Actually, describing them as nations is very accurate. They practically are, they have their own laws that are completely independent of whatever nation they are in. They are completely autonomous. Their building might be inside whatever nation, but the soil it is built on fully belongs to them, and they'll fight anyone who cares to dispute it."

"How did they manage to become auto-" Ruby put her hand her her face to silence her, "That would literally take all night, just know that they got it, and it took them a couple years to actually recover from the massive orgasm they had over the news."

She had so many questions still, but when Ruby ordered her to eat, her stomach turned against her. Spearing a piece on her fork, she found it to be coated in a thick layer of sauce, a little more then she prefered, but the smell was certainly something she remembered.

"I gave it that little tang that you like." The voice of a familiar wise man breaking her focus from the chicken.

"Oako?" She asked, looking up to see the old noodle maker, stroking his long grey fu manchu.

He "hmmed," at the sound of his name, before snapping to attention. He reached into the large sleeves of his green robe, before pulling out a small vial, no bigger than the palm of his hand.

"Ah yes, the drip of western honey I promised after you got Po out of that tree last week." He commented, leaning forward to apply the extra flavor. Suddenly everything became distorted a myriad of colors and shapes consumed her vision. Everything but her and the piece of food she was holding became an indistinguishable mass.

"Hey! Weiss Queen, you ok?" The sound of snapping straightened everything out. She looked around slightly phased to find everyone looking at her, and Ruby with her metal hand infront of her face.

"Who's Oako?" She asked, everyone's face showing they were wondering the same thing.

She stumbled on her words for a moment, trying to explain, before giving up. She doubted it would matter much. Ruby told her to eat again, because she wanted to leave soon. Weiss took her first bite of the food, and found it tasted nothing like chicken. She gagged, the unexpected taste throwing her for a loop. She needed to cover her mouth to stop from spitting it out.

"What is this?" She demanded, finally forcing it down.

"It's chicken." everyone present stated.

"The sauce tastes like it should, but that is not chicken."

"It's soy chicken." Yang spoke up this time, "Sorry princes, but we don't have the kind of money to buy actual chicken, even if we felt like blowing that much on you."

She looked down at her food again, able to tell no one cared for her complaints as they continued to eat. Her stomach growled, again, tempting her to another bite. It wasn't bad, the sauce was really good, and certainly helped it go down. It just wasn't chicken.

:::::

"Wow princess, you can pack it away can't you?" Yang commented from the spot across from her. Ruby sat in the passenger seat acting as navigator for Blake as they traveled through the city's back roads and underpasses.

"I don't know what came over me. Once I started eating I suddenly felt like I hadn't eaten in years." demonstrating the point by finishing off what would have equated to her fifth bowl. Tossing the takeout box onto the pile she looked around for more, but found nothing. Her hunger was gone, though she still felt like she could eat another small bite.

"Maybe it's better you don't stuff yourself. Wouldn't want something exciting to happen while you were full."

The thought hadn't entered her mind. There were still two parties looking for her, and though she wasn't a fan of this group either, they at least seemed to mind if she was comfortable or not.

"Alright a left here." Ruby commented from the front, lowering her fold-out map to point at an upcoming turn.

"That's a one way street." Blake responded, ignoring the red themed girl.

"You need to take a left here!" She said with more urgency as they drove by.

"I can't turn that way!" She spat back, "It's a one way alley."

"So? No one else is driving down it." Ruby pointed out, before holding up the map and pointing at their destination. "The fastest way there was down that alley, now we need to go all the way around."

"Well, when you can drive you can take any route you want." She retorted.

"You guys know I can drive," She stated with confidence "But you never let me, just because I don't have my license."

"Stuff like that is the reason you don't have your license." Blake pointed out.

"No, it's because you guys never take me to the DMV so I can get my permit."

"YANG!" Blake called, summoning their third member forward.

Yang was between them in an instant. Her hand came around and snagged Ruby's far ear, giving it a painful tug. Ruby started whining in pain as Yang explained what was wrong with her attitude and behavior. Eventually Ruby started spouting "I'm sorry," over and over again till Yang finished her lecture and released the girl.

She rubbed the side of her face and blew out her cheeks in a pout, clearly not happy with how the situation played out.

Finally Blake made a left turn, and listened to the new instructions Ruby gave her from the map. The van pulled up into a building with two open doors big enough to fit their transport. Once they pulled inside a short man with fire red hair and a large mustache came up to the window to greet them.

"Hey there, what can I get you for today?" The dwarf asked, a cheerful smile on his face.

"Our ride is broken. Can you take care of it?" Blake asked, rolling down the window so they could have a proper conversation.

"Sure, when will you be back for it?"

"Don't know, we were thinking of getting some cash and walking around for a bit."

The man's response was a sequence of small nods, before ending off with a "Cool." He stepped off the box and kicked it away, so Blake would have room to climb out. Ruby slammed the other door close, while Yang let Weiss out the back.

"So I just need to look over the vehicle for a second to see how much it will cost. Would you like some soykaf in the lobby while you wait." Hold out his hand towards a door in what could be assumed was an office area.

Yang's hand came up behind Weiss to nudge her forwards as they walked towards the door. A large man sat in a tiny fold chair sat with both arms and legs crossed while he just sat and glared at them.

Weiss was taken aback as she looked him over. He had a long black coat on, with several studs on his gloves and chains wrapped around his arms. His face was the size of Ruby's torso, with a low jaw line, two tusk like teeth sprouting from his bottom jaw, and a tuft of black hair on his chin. His ears were long and pointed with a number of different piercings decorating them, as well as a few rings in his right eyebrow. The thing that stood out most to Weiss though, was the two large horns sprouting from his forehead.

"Beast. Monster. Troll." were the three stand out words that came to mind as she took in his appearance.

"Ruby." Flicking his head up for a moment, not moving from his position.

"Duke." Ruby returned the gesture before walking forward.

'Duke' moved his massive hand in front of her, stopping her progress. Ruby let out a groan as she reached behind her and pulled out her weapon. The troll took it from her and set it to lean on the wall next to him.

"Anything else?"

"No." She responded flat faced.

He leaned forward, and hunched down to look her in the eyes. He glared at her for a solid five seconds before Ruby's face started to melt under the pressure. Finally he let up and threw his head towards the door. Blake stepped forward and handed him her weapon without any protest. He let her through as Yang repeated the process.

"Who's the new girl?" Duke asked, before letting Yang go through.

"The Weiss Queen here," Pausing to size up her reaction, "Is part of Mr. Johnson's employee transfer program."

"They are kidnapping me." Weiss spat, not knowing why everyone would be so casual over the fact.

"I guessed that Ice Queen." The troll said, uninterested in her complaints.

"Don't call me that!"

"Sorry, ' _Weiss Queen_." he said, playing along with her nickname.

"Don't call me that either! My name is Aurora!"

"She's kind of a bitch isn't she?" He asked, turning to Yang.

"Kind of." Yang responded, Putting both hands on her hips as the two looked back to Weiss.

Weiss didn't even bother continuing, knowing her words were falling on deaf ears. Finally he let the two of them through, warning them about disrespecting the "boss."

"Come on!" Ruby whined from inside. Sitting in a chair next to a desk in the corner was a tall lean man. His face was what Weiss could only describe as elegant, everything from his chin to his cheeks and brow, even his long pointed ears seemed flawless in her eyes. Save the three scars over his right eye, his complexion was just as perfect.

"No, that van isn't worth even a thousand nuyen." The elf spat back as Ruby practically fell to her knees begging. A second man stepped out from the shadow in the corner of the room.

He wore high boots and black pants, with a simple grey shirt underneath a long, open evergreen colored coat, with the sleeves ripped off; or did it come like that? She had seen lots of people with cloths in a similar condition while at the plaza and was starting to think it was an intentional thing rather then them wearing old clothes.

The man's skin was a suspiciously dark color to her eyes, save his left arm, which was clearly smooth metal polished snow white. A flat, featureless visor covered his face, revealing only his hair, naturally black at the roots, but dyed silver.

Ruby started to approach the elf, but before she could grasp his ankles The man grabbed her with is artificial arm. Pulling her up, by the collar he held her in the air, despite her protest.

"You know Morvan doesn't like touching… or begging." He said to her in a calm voice.

"But we need cash to restock our equipment." She grumbled, letting her body go limp.

The man let out a breath before looking over at Morvan. The elf let his hand fall into his hand as he rubbed his temple for a moment before letting out a sigh himself.

"You're too soft at times, Luk." He commented to himself as he stood up.

"Ever heard, 'the customer is always right?" He returned as he watched his boss straighten out his void black formal wear, with a red collared shirt, and gold tie.

Luk, held Ruby up higher so she was looking the man in the eyes while he spoke.

"I will pay you six-hundred for the van, not a neyen more. I will be willing to forward pay you twelve-hundred provided you're willing to do some worth for me."

"Sure!" Ruby said, mood turning on a dime, "I mean, what kind of work?" forcing a more serious tone.

"Just a couple errands. Small scale sabotage, collecting 'insurance fees,' maybe roughing up a few punks or druggies. Nothing I couldn't send my normal people to do."

He held out his hand for her to take, a credstick already in his palm waiting for her to take it. With an almost excited "Deal," She took his hand and gave it a good shake before retracting it, credstick in hand.

Luk set her down gently While Morvan instructed he would call them later tonight with their "to-do list."

Without another word they left the office, then paused next to Duke.

"Duke." Ruby said, flicking her head up like she did the first time.

"Ruby." The troll repeating the action, before leaning over and handing her, her gun.

"So now what?" Yang asked as they followed their leader down the street outside the garage. Ruby was practically skipping ahead a smile bigger than a kid in a candy store.

"Simple." She stated, stopping on her heels to face them, "Who's up for some shopping!"

Yang and Blake stopped to share a look before grinning. "Yeah let's do it!" The blonde exclaimed, as Ruby grabbed Weiss's hand and started dragging her along despite her protest.

 **:::::**

 **Got a job about a month ago, so that's why this took so long. Still working on this, but don't know when next chapter will come out.**

 **Till next time Review + Follow.**


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